9/24/07 Editor’s Note: If you are looking for Geek.com’s review of Halo 3 you can find it here.

The day has finally arrived, and after some issues (see today’s coverage), I was able to get into the Halo 3 Beta. After 7 hours of straight play, I ripped myself away from my Xbox 360 to give the good news: Halo 3 is going to be awesome; there’s no doubt about it. The game looks remarkably polished, and Bungie has four months to make it even better.

Hardcore fans can own the helmet, too!

Masterchief is back again

The Beta gives players the chance to play through three multiplayer maps, with a number of Team Slayer and Team Skirmish gametypes, using most of the weapons and gadgets that will show up in the final product. I took on the Beta with a buddy from my Halo 2 days, and for the most part, we mopped up.

Just like in Halo 2, there’s a matchmaking system, and just like Halo 2, the system improves with each gaming session. It was kind of funny how fast I leveled up; it’s possible many of those who bought Crackdown for the Beta, never played Halo before.

For the most part, everything was pick up and play. New maps, so I had to learn the locations of the power weapons and good places to hide and shoot from. Otherwise, though, I found myself right at home.

All the weapons look, feel, and shoot just as fans of the series expect. The starting assault rifle is pretty much a clone of the Halo 1 starting weapon, so it’s a fairly average up-close weapon, and below average ranged weapon. The SMG is also back, but I didn’t see many people picking it up. The two most common weapons of choice are still the Battle Rifle and the Covenant Carbine.

Power weapons are still an important aspect of the game, and there’s no more powerful weapon than the Spartan Laser–theoretically.

The weapon packs about 5 shots, takes a long time to load, and is easily defeated up-close. When you do get it working, though, it is pretty cool. For anyone who hasn’t watched the videos or played the game, think Gears of War’s Hammer of Dawn. It has a long sighted laser beam and clicks when you press it.

The Rocket Launcher is back, too. As is dual wielding. You can dual wield SMGs or the brute equivalent, which is pretty sweet. Grenades now come in three varieties–Human, Covenant, and Brute. The Brute ‘nades stick to walls and people for particularly nasty kills.

The other new addition weapons and gear-wise that should make a major impact is tied to the X button. You can pick up and deploy portable gravity lifts, power drainers, the bubble shield from the trailer, trip mines, etc. It adds another interesting dimension to gameplay, and fits perfectly in the Halo Universe.

So, what do you reload with? The right bumper and left bumper reload. Anyone who has played Gears of War will not have many issues getting used to it. The right bumper button also controls getting into vehicles and performing most of the other actions that were formerly linked to x.

There is once again a Warthog and a Ghost, but now there is also a Mongoose ATV.

Even though Bungie has always wanted to put this into its game, and it’s now here, most people will probably not see what the big deal is. It’s not that it’s particularly bad; it’s just not mind-blowing.

The three maps included in the Halo 3 Beta are High Ground, Snowbound, and Valhalla.

Snowbound

High Ground is a perfect mid-sized map, which reminded me of a sassier Zanzibar. There were more locations to hide and do interesting things, but once again there was a beach and a base. It’s good for one flag CTF, and it’s the best of the three for 4v4 Team Slayer.

Snowbound and Valhalla are large maps, and are perhaps too big for a 4v4 match. I could see them being really fun for 8v8 Big Team Battle games, particularly Valhalla. Valhalla reminded me of the classic Blood Gulch, with a hint of the second level of Halo 1.

And it all looks outstanding. It’s so easy to get sucked into playing the game–just like learning a new button, a few new weapons, and new maps for Halo 2. But step back for a moment, and take a look around at the details.

The grass looks as good as any game I’ve ever seen–on par with Call of Duty 3’s grass that blows in the wind. The water, ohmygosh, the water. It’s almost worth getting killed in the water just to get the water kill camera. And watching the water cascade over rocks and ripple; it’s a good thing. Rocks, moss, mountains–it’s a futuristic